Bradford, PA
Bradford wildfire risk explained
USFS scores Bradford at the 8th national percentile for wildfire risk to structures (among the lower wildfire-risk places nationally), a figure built from 3,590 real buildings rather than raw vegetation cover. (Source: USFS's Wildfire Risk to Communities methodology.)
Fire likelihood alone (USFS's burn-probability figure) ranks Bradford at the 8th national percentile — 0 points above its risk-to-structures score, a gap driven by how much is actually built there.
Where Bradford's buildings actually sit
Most of Bradford's buildings (88.9%) sit in the Indirect zone, where wind-blown embers rather than flame front are the mechanism USFS is scoring — ember-resistant vents and non-combustible roofing are the interventions this pattern favors, more than defensible space alone.
Bradford against the rest of the country
Bradford scores 8th nationally and 5th within Pennsylvania — close enough that its state context doesn't change the picture the national number already gives. Among the 31,521 US communities USFS scores, Bradford ranks 29,044 for wildfire risk (1 is highest) and 4,667 by building count (1 is largest). Within Pennsylvania alone, it ranks 1,889 of 1,991 places by risk. See the full county-by-county picture for Pennsylvania on its state page.
Bradford and the insurance market
Bradford's low rating (8th percentile nationally) sits outside the range where wildfire risk alone reshapes an insurance market — still, a homeowner here loses nothing by comparing rates.
What would actually reduce this score
With ember exposure the dominant pattern in Bradford (88.9% Indirect), vent screens and roofing material tend to matter more than lot clearing alone. The home-hardening guide covers both.
More on how this number was built
Bradford's 8th-percentile score and its burn-probability figure both come from the same USFS workbook, documented in the methodology guide. For more on what indirect exposure implies beyond Bradford, see the exposure-zones guide.